My Pedometer – More Than a 12-Step Program
“I have to walk very early in the morning before my brain figures out what I am doing!”
#4 on the 52 Easy Ways to a Healthier 2013 list from my New Year’s Plan Blog is to buy a pedometer. Well I don’t need to buy a pedometer. I have 5 of them but, much like me, their batteries were dead! It took me a week to find the right type of battery. In the mean time, I put a new battery in one of my many watches. My local Mini Price store had the right size and a package of 5 was only $1.99. And it works. All this week I’ve been wearing it when I’m not sleeping.
Right now, it’s clipped to the pocket of my housecoat (bathrobe for my American friends). It looks like the one to the right except for the BC Government advertising on it. They were gifts for a walking program at our school a few years ago. We walked across Canada, around the moon and part of the way to the sun. It measures steps, distance, calories burned and tells the time. You can even adjust, then set, how big of a stride you have. I wanted to set it at 90cm (36 inches) but, who am I kidding?
According to most health and fitness gurus and pundits (How come names for really smart people came from languages other than English?) 10,000 steps a day is good for everyone who can walk. 20,000 is for “active people”. The good news, you can wear your pedometer almost everywhere you go. Of course you have to wear something you can clip it to. So, swimming and sex have to be converted using other charts. I’ll put one in down below. But you’ll notice it doesn’t include sex so you will have to do the equivalent conversions yourself. For example is it like high or low impact aerobics, is it like acrobatics or maybe like watching TV and that is equivalent to only 2 steps per minute.
So, I have my walking poles, 3 pairs of runners and a working pedometer. I must leave one pair of runners at work so I won’t have any excuses NOT to go for a walk.
Thanks for listening and walk with pride even if it’s only to the bathroom. ;D Diane
Number of steps per minute for selected activities
Aerobics, high impact | 203 | Orienteering | 260 |
Aerobics, low impact | 145 | Painting | 131 |
Aerobics, step | 246 | Pilates | 101 |
Badminton, casual | 131 | Ping-pong | 116 |
Badminton, competitive | 203 | Racquetball, casual | 203 |
Basketball, game | 230 | Racquetball, competitive | 290 |
Basketball, recreational | 174 | Raking leaves | 125 |
Bicycling, leisurely | 116 | Roller skating | 203 |
Bicycling, stationary | 203 | Rowing, light | 101 |
Bowling | 87 | Rowing, moderate | 203 |
Boxing | 348 | Running, 10 mph (6 min/mile) | 463 |
Canoeing, light | 87 | Running, 8 mph (7.5 min/mile) | 391 |
Chopping wood, around home | 174 | Running, 6 mph (10 min/mile) | 290 |
Circuit Training | 232 | Running, 5 mph (12 min/mile) | 232 |
Cross-country skiing, intense | 260 | Scuba diving | 203 |
Cross-country skiing, moderate | 232 | Show shoveling | 174 |
Cross-country skiing, slow | 203 | Snowboarding, light | 150 |
Dancing | 131 | Snowboarding, moderate | 182 |
Downhill skiing | 174 | Soccer, recreational | 203 |
Elliptical trainer | 203 | Soccer, competitive | 290 |
Firewood, carrying | 145 | Softball | 145 |
Firewood, sawing with handsaw | 217 | Squash | 348 |
Firewood, stacking | 145 | Stair climbing, machine | 260 |
Football | 260 | Stair climbing, moderate | 334 |
Gardening, light | 116 | Stair climbing, slow | 232 |
Gardening, heavy | 174 | Stair climbing, vigorous | 434 |
Gardening, weeding | 131 | Stretching | 72 |
Golfing, without a cart | 131 | Swimming, backstroke | 203 |
Golfing, with a cart | 101 | Swimming, breaststroke | 290 |
Grocery Shopping | 67 | Swimming, butterfly | 319 |
Handball | 348 | Swimming, freestyle | 203 |
Hiking, 10-20 lb. load | 217 | Swimming, leisure | 174 |
Hiking, 21-42 lb. load | 232 | Swimming, treading water | 116 |
Hiking, general | 172 | Tae Kwon Do | 290 |
Horseback riding | 116 | Tai Chi | 116 |
Horseback riding, trotting | 188 | Tennis, doubles | 174 |
Housework, light | 72 | Tennis, singles | 232 |
Housework, mopping floors | 101 | Trampoline | 101 |
Housework, scrubbing floors | 110 | Volleyball, game | 232 |
Housework, vacuuming | 101 | Volleyball, leisure | 87 |
Housework, washing windows | 87 | Wash the car | 87 |
Ice skating | 203 | Water aerobics | 116 |
Judo | 290 | Water skiing | 174 |
Jumping rope, fast | 348 | Wax the car | 131 |
Jumping rope, moderate | 290 | Weight lifting, moderate | 87 |
Karate | 290 | Weight lifting, vigorous | 174 |
Kickboxing | 290 | Yard Work | 145 |
Mowing | 160 | Yoga | 72 |
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~~WELLNESS TIP~~ | YouthVoicesTT said this on January 14, 2013 at 8:20 am |
Thanks for sharing!
Great post to help motivate people to “Get Up and Move”. I do recommend a good pedometer to help measure all the steps in a day. This is one time that cheap does matter to get accurate measurement. Most people wouldn’t realize that light gardening would average about 116 steps a minute, as you suggest. With a pedometer, there is no guessing.
Good luck!
Thanks. I agree fully, but how could you measure swimming or sex?
You might want to try HIIT training which is high intitseny interval training and can be done with any cardio exercise (treadmill, bike, stairmaster, elliptical trainer). The goal is to vary intitseny and speed in order to confuse your body so that it does not adapt to the workout. As long as you keep your body guessing, you will burn more calories during the workout and even after the workout. On the treadmill, for example, u can walk for one minute, run for two minutes, walk for one minute, run for two minutes ..and u continue to do this for 30-45 minutes ..you will burn more calories within a shorter time span and you will continue to burn calories even after ur done with ur workout (how cool is that?). U will in no time and as long as u keep working on ur abs ..u will see results quickly.
Fabulous! I need to keep my body guessing because it hates me!!!